The scientific conference 'Ethics in the Environment of Media and Technologies' held at the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences is reviewed in the article. The text represents the course of the conference and the main thoughts of speakers, and some ideas of the participants are discussed in more detail. The topics explored in this scientific event are the following: the meaning of sacrifice, decentered subject in media, the wars of world-views, technical artefacts in the antique philosophy, the problem of nihilism in Heidegger's philosophy, ethics of representation of vulnerable subjects, paradoxes of media ethics, face in media, evil in communication, ethics of cultural and creative industries, ethics of technology, and various other ethical problems of media, politics and medicine.
The scientific conference 'Ethics in the Environment of Media and Technologies' held at the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences is reviewed in the article. The text represents the course of the conference and the main thoughts of speakers, and some ideas of the participants are discussed in more detail. The topics explored in this scientific event are the following: the meaning of sacrifice, decentered subject in media, the wars of world-views, technical artefacts in the antique philosophy, the problem of nihilism in Heidegger's philosophy, ethics of representation of vulnerable subjects, paradoxes of media ethics, face in media, evil in communication, ethics of cultural and creative industries, ethics of technology, and various other ethical problems of media, politics and medicine.
Occupational safety and worker health conditions in industry depend on the implementation and administration of safety laws and regulations. Lithuania has recently increased the number of companies that run the occupational safety and health management systems. However, in the majority of businesses and particularly private farms the legislation is not sufficiently implemented, the document management is purely tokenistic and symbolic, professional risk assessment is not carried out, the managers or other authorized personnel show a lack of competence. The research results are based on the questionnaire. The agricultural companies engaged in the production and processing of agricultural products have been surveyed. Having summarized the results the safety, occupational risk assessment, authorizing the personnel to work in the field of safety and health management issues were discussed. Moreover, the checklist was prepared, the level of occupational safety was evaluated and measures to improve it have been provided regulating the government payments for agricultural sector.
Occupational safety and worker health conditions in industry depend on the implementation and administration of safety laws and regulations. Lithuania has recently increased the number of companies that run the occupational safety and health management systems. However, in the majority of businesses and particularly private farms the legislation is not sufficiently implemented, the document management is purely tokenistic and symbolic, professional risk assessment is not carried out, the managers or other authorized personnel show a lack of competence. The research results are based on the questionnaire. The agricultural companies engaged in the production and processing of agricultural products have been surveyed. Having summarized the results the safety, occupational risk assessment, authorizing the personnel to work in the field of safety and health management issues were discussed. Moreover, the checklist was prepared, the level of occupational safety was evaluated and measures to improve it have been provided regulating the government payments for agricultural sector.
There are no simple answers when it comes to explaining what information technologies would change in public management. Conceptually the electronic government is a rather new research field, therefore it lacks universally accepted definitions & causal models. Therefore this article attempts to make a contribution in theoretical terms: it develops the idea that technologies provide an impetus towards development of a new institutional public management model, which is fundamentally different from the traditional rational bureaucracy & New Public Management. Having defined the main features of the IT-based model, the article discusses the possible mechanism of change -- ie., to what extent within this mechanism the IT can be considered an independent variable? Adapted from the source document.
With the rapid development of industry and manufacturing, emissions of the most environmentally harmful substances are increasingly, leading to more unfavourable climate change. For this reason, it is necessary to ensure a more efficient use of non-renewable resources and reduce negative impact on the environment in manufacturing processes. In this context, it is very important to promote equipment and plant linked to cleaner technology investment which can reduce negative impact on the environment, but it is still unclear what determinants of cleaner technology investment in manufacturing sector are. Therefore, it is appropriate to investigate manufacturing sector's investment in cleaner technology determinants. The object for this work is factors for manufacturing sector investment in cleaner technologies. The aim for this paper is to identify factors for investment in cleaner technologies in the European Union. Research objectives: 1. To overview relevance of science researches related to investment in cleaner technologies. 2. To identify the factors of investment from a theoretical point of view. 3. To prepare a methodology for empirical research of factors influencing manufacturing sector investment in cleaner technologies. 4. To determine the factors for manufacturing sector investment in cleaner technology in the in the European Union through an empirical study. Research methods: analysis of scientific literature, regression analysis of statistical data and synthesis method. Based on the analysis of the problem in the first part, it has been identified that the manufacturing sector needs to introduce and invest in cleaner technologies. Second part concentrated on theoretical analysis of factors of investment. Results showed that that the main factors that may affect the manufacturing sector's investment in cleaner technologies in the European Union are environmental taxes, leverage of companies, electricity price uncertainty, energy consumption, public support, public education, inflation, GDP growth, CO2 ...
Competitiveness as a research object is important for foreign and Lithuanian scientists. Competitiveness concept is widely used by government, business, and science representatives as well by other social characters. Competitiveness, science and technology development is very important part of country's development strategy. More and more global world, economical market brings new opportunities and danger. Thus bigger influence and bigger competitiveness helps for country to reach its goals and to strengthen its positions in international sphere. Object – competitiveness stimulation of territories. The Aim – to justify the importance of European support which helps to stimulate competitiveness of sub national territories. This paper reveals the analysis of documents and quality research, which is based on structural interviews with five respondents, who represent business, science and government's interests. It also discusses about the concept of competitiveness, analyzed strategies, and the importance of various levels of institutions' strategies for stimulating competitiveness, also networking and its links with competitiveness. It is shown that in European level created documents foresees long-term and short-term tools, aims and subsidies to accomplish tasks. Country in the frames of these strategies adopts national strategy, schematic documents and a wide range of tools to achieve goals. The success of European strategies depends on national states, their various levels institutions and public institutions, companies, educational and research institutions, acceptance of various decisions by investors and other organizations and their actions, and ability to use and apply these documents. Finished analysis of networking instruments shows that all networking forms have an influence to the stimulation of competitiveness. The usage of networking can help gradually introduce innovations and increase creativity.
Competitiveness as a research object is important for foreign and Lithuanian scientists. Competitiveness concept is widely used by government, business, and science representatives as well by other social characters. Competitiveness, science and technology development is very important part of country's development strategy. More and more global world, economical market brings new opportunities and danger. Thus bigger influence and bigger competitiveness helps for country to reach its goals and to strengthen its positions in international sphere. Object – competitiveness stimulation of territories. The Aim – to justify the importance of European support which helps to stimulate competitiveness of sub national territories. This paper reveals the analysis of documents and quality research, which is based on structural interviews with five respondents, who represent business, science and government's interests. It also discusses about the concept of competitiveness, analyzed strategies, and the importance of various levels of institutions' strategies for stimulating competitiveness, also networking and its links with competitiveness. It is shown that in European level created documents foresees long-term and short-term tools, aims and subsidies to accomplish tasks. Country in the frames of these strategies adopts national strategy, schematic documents and a wide range of tools to achieve goals. The success of European strategies depends on national states, their various levels institutions and public institutions, companies, educational and research institutions, acceptance of various decisions by investors and other organizations and their actions, and ability to use and apply these documents. Finished analysis of networking instruments shows that all networking forms have an influence to the stimulation of competitiveness. The usage of networking can help gradually introduce innovations and increase creativity.
Competitiveness as a research object is important for foreign and Lithuanian scientists. Competitiveness concept is widely used by government, business, and science representatives as well by other social characters. Competitiveness, science and technology development is very important part of country's development strategy. More and more global world, economical market brings new opportunities and danger. Thus bigger influence and bigger competitiveness helps for country to reach its goals and to strengthen its positions in international sphere. Object – competitiveness stimulation of territories. The Aim – to justify the importance of European support which helps to stimulate competitiveness of sub national territories. This paper reveals the analysis of documents and quality research, which is based on structural interviews with five respondents, who represent business, science and government's interests. It also discusses about the concept of competitiveness, analyzed strategies, and the importance of various levels of institutions' strategies for stimulating competitiveness, also networking and its links with competitiveness. It is shown that in European level created documents foresees long-term and short-term tools, aims and subsidies to accomplish tasks. Country in the frames of these strategies adopts national strategy, schematic documents and a wide range of tools to achieve goals. The success of European strategies depends on national states, their various levels institutions and public institutions, companies, educational and research institutions, acceptance of various decisions by investors and other organizations and their actions, and ability to use and apply these documents. Finished analysis of networking instruments shows that all networking forms have an influence to the stimulation of competitiveness. The usage of networking can help gradually introduce innovations and increase creativity.
In political discourse, climate change issues are often linked to the need to implement an energy transition based not only on changes in the economy and politics, but also in social life. Risk perception and social acceptability of technologies are seen as the most important factors for the further progress of a socially responsible and aware society. Therefore, the research conducted in this dissertation aimed to uncover the factors shaping the risk perception and social acceptability of energy technologies among the Lithuanian population in the context of climate change. The theoretical approach of the dissertation was based on the ideas of risk society, ecological and reflexive modernization, and systems theories. The data for the study were obtained during the implementation of the LMT-funded project " Public Perceptions of Climate Change: Lithuanian case in a European Comparative Perspective", in which a representative survey of the Lithuanian population was conducted through direct interviews. The study found that while Lithuanians are relatively unconcerned about the problem of climate change, renewable energy technologies are viewed positively and are associated with lower risk. The acceptability of these technologies is most influenced by concerns about energy security in terms of energy affordability, environmental protection and stable energy supply. Averting climate change issues reduces awareness of the risks of non-renewable energy technologies. Thus, in preparation for the implementation of the energy transition, it is necessary to raise public awareness of the global challenges and to seek for measures that encourage the population to become more actively involved and responsible.
In political discourse, climate change issues are often linked to the need to implement an energy transition based not only on changes in the economy and politics, but also in social life. Risk perception and social acceptability of technologies are seen as the most important factors for the further progress of a socially responsible and aware society. Therefore, the research conducted in this dissertation aimed to uncover the factors shaping the risk perception and social acceptability of energy technologies among the Lithuanian population in the context of climate change. The theoretical approach of the dissertation was based on the ideas of risk society, ecological and reflexive modernization, and systems theories. The data for the study were obtained during the implementation of the LMT-funded project " Public Perceptions of Climate Change: Lithuanian case in a European Comparative Perspective", in which a representative survey of the Lithuanian population was conducted through direct interviews. The study found that while Lithuanians are relatively unconcerned about the problem of climate change, renewable energy technologies are viewed positively and are associated with lower risk. The acceptability of these technologies is most influenced by concerns about energy security in terms of energy affordability, environmental protection and stable energy supply. Averting climate change issues reduces awareness of the risks of non-renewable energy technologies. Thus, in preparation for the implementation of the energy transition, it is necessary to raise public awareness of the global challenges and to seek for measures that encourage the population to become more actively involved and responsible.
In political discourse, climate change issues are often linked to the need to implement an energy transition based not only on changes in the economy and politics, but also in social life. Risk perception and social acceptability of technologies are seen as the most important factors for the further progress of a socially responsible and aware society. Therefore, the research conducted in this dissertation aimed to uncover the factors shaping the risk perception and social acceptability of energy technologies among the Lithuanian population in the context of climate change. The theoretical approach of the dissertation was based on the ideas of risk society, ecological and reflexive modernization, and systems theories. The data for the study were obtained during the implementation of the LMT-funded project " Public Perceptions of Climate Change: Lithuanian case in a European Comparative Perspective", in which a representative survey of the Lithuanian population was conducted through direct interviews. The study found that while Lithuanians are relatively unconcerned about the problem of climate change, renewable energy technologies are viewed positively and are associated with lower risk. The acceptability of these technologies is most influenced by concerns about energy security in terms of energy affordability, environmental protection and stable energy supply. Averting climate change issues reduces awareness of the risks of non-renewable energy technologies. Thus, in preparation for the implementation of the energy transition, it is necessary to raise public awareness of the global challenges and to seek for measures that encourage the population to become more actively involved and responsible.
In political discourse, climate change issues are often linked to the need to implement an energy transition based not only on changes in the economy and politics, but also in social life. Risk perception and social acceptability of technologies are seen as the most important factors for the further progress of a socially responsible and aware society. Therefore, the research conducted in this dissertation aimed to uncover the factors shaping the risk perception and social acceptability of energy technologies among the Lithuanian population in the context of climate change. The theoretical approach of the dissertation was based on the ideas of risk society, ecological and reflexive modernization, and systems theories. The data for the study were obtained during the implementation of the LMT-funded project " Public Perceptions of Climate Change: Lithuanian case in a European Comparative Perspective", in which a representative survey of the Lithuanian population was conducted through direct interviews. The study found that while Lithuanians are relatively unconcerned about the problem of climate change, renewable energy technologies are viewed positively and are associated with lower risk. The acceptability of these technologies is most influenced by concerns about energy security in terms of energy affordability, environmental protection and stable energy supply. Averting climate change issues reduces awareness of the risks of non-renewable energy technologies. Thus, in preparation for the implementation of the energy transition, it is necessary to raise public awareness of the global challenges and to seek for measures that encourage the population to become more actively involved and responsible.
The contemporary information & communication technologies (ICT) will not, by themselves, resolve the issues, faced by Lithuanian public administration in designing & implementing its policies. This is the major argument of the article, supported by the available empirical information & various secondary sources. Why the bureaucracy, which is often considered as being slow, inflexible & inertic should suddenly change due to the mere fact of ICT being purchased & installed? The answer is often based on some intuitive logic, which is called in this article the "ideal model of e-government." The first of the assumptions in this model claim that the public sector has the right skills to select the relevant technology. The next assumption is that once the technology is installed, it will be used competently & open-mindedly -- with the right capacities, motivations & leaders available to do that. In turn, if the technology is used competently, one can indeed expect improvements in public policy making & implementation: organizational change, better inter-institutional co-operation, development of e-services, etc. Notably, many ICT projects in the public sector fail & Lithuania is no exception in this respect. The investment does not necessarily lead to a meaningful organizational change, it does not enhance co-operation between institutions & does not improve communication & trust between the citizens & the state. Surely, the e-government is a rather new development, so one should hardly expect that all the visions will be successful outright. However, while at least some of the major problems may be anticipated in advance, the solutions are not always clear-cut. In order to take a full advantage of the ICT potential in the public sector, a clear choice of an actual model of public administration is necessary. Here a number of classic dilemmas may be identified -- regarding the relations between the public & the private sectors, internal control within the organization, sharing of responsibilities between organizations, etc. It is argued in the article that the answers to these questions in Lithuania are clear only in the official strategies & statements. Meanwhile the practice shows, that the relations between the public & the private sector are unbalanced, organizations lack the culture of critically assessing their achievements, institutions are carefully avoiding "interference" from outside into their internal matters & government is far from being conceived as a "service" to the citizens. It is also noted, that the differences between the official rhetoric & the practice may well be explained by the experience of both the soviet period as well as the accession to the EU: the institutions developed the skill of flexible adjustment to the dominant discourse without finding it necessary to change the essence of policy process. All in all, while the ICT do provide opportunities for improvement of public management, in order to take a full advantage of these opportunities it is necessary to resolve some of the classical dilemmas of public administration. In order to do that, some deeper changes of attitudes, values, & culture are necessary both in the public sector as well as in the society at large. Therefore, notwithstanding the expectation of the big change towards modernization of public sector the old saying of "plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose" is applicable for estimating the potential of the ICT to change the public sector. Adapted from the source document.
This article reveals the research issues related to the implementation of technology-driven change, distinguishes differences in techno-change, information technology projects and organisational change programmes, and names the stages in the implementation of technology-induced change, and comparative technological models of research of acceptance of change. The scientific literature points out that techno-changes differ from the usual information technology and organisational change programmes, because not only do they focus on the improvement of technological activities, but they also have a huge impact on users (people, processes, organisational activities). Technochange differs from organisational change, in that in this type of change, information technologies, information technology specialists and technical methodologies are very clearly involved in the change, and technochange is distinguished by its complexity. Three or four stages are usually distinguished for the implementation of technology-induced changes in organisations by the most commonly used phases in the life cycle of technological change proposed by Markus (2004). In models of the acceptance of technological change, an organisation is treated as a combination of two interconnected systems, technical and social. The implementation of technological change is aimed at harmonising the structure of technical and social organisation, and improving the activities of the organisation. The success of technological change is linked to the balance of technology, consumers and tasks, and the political, technological and social consequences. In this way, structural, strategic and intellectual, as well as social and cultural dimensions are included at organisational and individual levels of change. An analysis of concepts of the implementation of technological change is useful in understanding not only the implementation of technological change itself, and the analysis of its technical characteristics and the management of their acceptance. It is also useful for understanding the social side of the organisational structure, its capacity and infrastructure levels, the personal reasons why individual employees tend to resist technological change, what interventions can be made, and how to influence workers' behaviour to help reduce their resistance to technological change.
